JNUSU chief rues NAAC team didn’t meet student representatives

New Delhi, Oct 11 : As a NAAC team ended its three-day visit to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday, JNUSU President Geeta Kumari said the team did not meet student representatives to know infrastructural problems on the campus.

The visit by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) — an autonomous agency under the University Grants Commission — for the annual review was monitored by varsity officials and the entire campus was beautified with flower pots, but no team member met student representatives to discuss run-down hostels and dumpy toilets, she told IANS.

“The members were led around the campus and shown spots beautified for the purpose. The JNUSU didn’t get an invitation to meet the visiting team. Many students were invited selectively from science streams and most were effusive in their praise for the Vice Chancellor, except a few from the School for Arts and Aesthetics, which happens to come under ‘sciences’,” she added.

Schools under the science stream are traditionally known to support the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad during student elections. The student group, leftist groups allege, is close to the current administration while the students union comprises only supporters of left parties.

Geeta Kumari said: “Hostel buildings need immediate repair. Hostel bathrooms are in miserable condition, very old and with malfunctioning flushing systems and no water. The NAAC team should consider this and think how we can do research in such conditions.”

The JNU Dean of Students could not be contacted for comments.

She said the newly elected union was not even invited for the traditional meeting over tea with the Vice Chancellor. “He (Vice Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar) didn’t send an invite even last year,” Geeta Kumari said.

The NAAC ranks various institutions on the basis of infrastructure, research and innovation, student support and progression, governance and leadership and management.

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